


Works of Art

by pickleplum



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Art, Athene Noctua Verse, Cute, Cute Kids, Families of Choice, Family Secrets, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Multilingual Character, Mystery, Painting, School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:38:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7852885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickleplum/pseuds/pickleplum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bastien and his friend Anaïs compare art projects and draw a conclusion about their histories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Works of Art

**Author's Note:**

> 21 September 2007  
> Berlin, Germany

\- Èze, June 2011 — Raleigh B. -

Bastien tilts his head left.

Anaïs' brush goes _shiff_ against her painting.

He tilts right.

She swishes the brush in the cleaning solution.

He glowers, growls.

«What's wrong?» she asks.

„My painting **sucks**.“ Frustrated gesture. „This looks **nothing** like our back garden.“

She peers over his shoulder. «Is that a shed?»

„It's supposed to be a **tree**!“ Drags a hand over his face, wails, „I **suck** at art!“

«But your people drawings are so pretty!»

Bastien scoffs.

«They really are!» Smiles. «That bird's really cute, too.»

„What bird?“

«That one.» Anaïs points.

„That's a bird **house**!“ Sulks, mutters, „I should just give up before I make an idiot of myself.“

«I'm sure you'll get better with more practice.»

Bastien sighs spectacularly.

«Would you look at mine and tell me what you think?»

„Sure.“ He shuffles over, looks—double-takes, stares open-mouthed.

«What's wrong? Is it awful?»

„It's beautiful!“

«Really?»

„It's a work of **Art**! It belongs in a **museum**!“

«Don't tease me, Bunny,» she scolds, poking his side.

„I'm not!“ Waves his arms. „It's really, really cool!“

She ducks her head, says quietly, «Thank you.»

„This place looks familiar, though.“ Squints harder. „Is it somewhere famous?“

«I don't think so? It's Grandfather's house at the sea.»

„I **swear** I've seen it before.“

«There are a **lot** of houses like it, I guess.»

„Yea, but ... that corner—“ Points to the spot where the stone wall meets the bluff. „—the wind kinda swirls around and makes a curvy little dune, right?“

Anaïs narrows her eyes. «How do you know that?»

„I just—“ Shrugs. „—do?“

They stare at her painting for a while.

«Maybe ....» Anaïs takes a deep breath. «Maybe we have the same grandfather?»

„I doubt it. My grandfather who's alive is this big guy who laughs a lot and can't speak French.“

Anaïs slumps a bit. «That doesn't sound at all like mine.» Fiddles with the end of her braid. «Grandfather rarely laughs.»

Bastien edges closer, whispers, „Are you scared of him?“

«A little.» Shifts her feet. «He's very important and it's **very** **important** we make him happy.»

„Sounds like my father,“ snickers Bastien.

Anaïs smiles, shyly. «He sort of does, doesn't he?»

„Oh my God! What if my father and your grandfather are **the** **same** **person**!“

«I've never seen your father ....»

„And I haven't seen your grandfather ....“

They exchange a Look.

„It can't be.“

«But what if it is?»

„We'd be family,“ grins Bastien.

Anaïs beams.

**Author's Note:**

> Photo by [CHRIS230***](https://www.flickr.com/photos/krikou/) [[CC BY-NC-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)] via [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/krikou/1366474365/).
> 
> Beta by the most-wonderful artificiallifecreator.
> 
> This slots into "[Celestial Mechanics](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7653430)" after "[Piece of Cake](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7653430/chapters/17908237)" and before "Better Job".
> 
> I felt like I had to cut Bastien a bit of a break after all the torment I've been putting the kid through. So here he is a little more than a year after his appearance in the "[Lonely](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7653430/chapters/17794612)" chapter of "[Celestial Mechanics](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7653430)" with Anaïs as a friend in his favorite class of the school week generally having a good time.
> 
> EDIT (12/20/16): This has been lightly revised, re-dated, and incorporated as a chapter of "[Celestial Mechanics](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7653430/chapters/19449547)" proper now.


End file.
